The UK and Nordics are best placed to make the most of Open Banking thanks to a high number of bank APIs, progressive regulators, and consumer readiness, according to a study conducted across ten European countries by Mastercard.
The report - ‘Open Banking Readiness Index: The Future of Open Banking in Europe’ - found the Nordics’ and UK’s digital infrastructures ensure the countries are very well-placed to allow widespread uptake, with a high peneteration of household interent acccess and smartphones and a well-entrenched online banking population.
According to The Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE), which was set up by the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in 2016 to deliver Open Banking, around 294 fintech companies and payment service providers have joined the UK ecosystem, of which 102 have live offerings in the market. Q1 2021 usage exceeded 2bn API calls for the first time.
The pan-Nordic collaborative models and P27 initiative aid the region’s open banking readiness and most of the big Nordic Banks have an open banking strategy, with Nordea Group and DNB Bank among Europe’s frontrunners.
Jim Wadsworth, SVP for Open Banking, Mastercard, says: “By taking advantage of pan-European developments such as PSD2, all European banks are progressing towards a full open banking environment, but it is clear the UK and Nordics are leading the way with high consumer readiness and a number of solutions already live."